It all relates to a mentality that is very different from the folks that grew up during the depression and WW2. We Americans (and I include myself) are a bit spoiled, wanting what we want when we want it. Certainly credit card proliferation plays into that mindset, and it makes sense that it would also work its way into our eating habits. I know that it's hard for me to say "no" to those extra convenience store snacks. But the sobering reality of higher gas prices, more expensive food (yes, those lattes have gotten a bit more expensive) and harder to get credit will reign in more than our spending habits. And I may even learn to say "no" to myself occasionally!

This is so bigoted it's sickening. If you replaced every mention of the word obesity with the word "black" or "hispanic" there would be such an outcry of rage that there would have to be a national public apology. If you wouldn't accuse minorities of not saving because they were as smart as white people, or something ridicoulous like that, then why do you think it's okay to say that fat people are so greedy they're eating up all their money.

For the record, according to the BMI chart, I am obese. And I am not only out of debt, but I have savings. Have a decent retirement I started when I was 22. I'm looking into going into business for myself. My husband and I feel prosperous because we're careful not to spend close to what we make. We could even live off just one of our incomes. BTW, he is also obese.

There is no correlation at all between people being fat and not saving. Fat does NOT cause people to be spendthrifts. They are spendthrifts because they are spendthrifts. Eating out is not what kills your budget, it's too much house, too much car, too many channels of plasma television, etc. Also, people aren't necessarily fat because they eat out. We hardly ever eat out. Might be why we have some money to spare, but doesn't explain our weights.

Although the fact that the BMI treats muscle mass the same as fat because it only cares about weight can explain a lot. If you don't understand, come out to my house and let me show you how to lift a 50lb bag of feed or fertilizer. Watch me lift it over my head. Watch me take the stairs up 9 flights that my skinny co-workers can't manage.

So the author is making a point on evidence he can't connect with figures that aren't even accurate anyways.

P.S. There's been an increase in the consumption of Coke during these date ranges. You could connect that to the rise of both obesity, cavities, and the lack of savings. You might could even figure out how drinking more colas has kept us from going back to the moon. Numbers will show you anything if you want to put them together.

Forgive me if this is straying from the point, but let's not go so crazy heaping praise on the "Greatest Generation" again. People were frugal during the Great Depression because they had to be, and they fought hard and sacrificed during WWII because failure to do so would have spelled disaster. We pamper ourselves today (admittedly to bad effect) because these are comparatively prosperous, safe times. Throw me and a quarter of my countrymen on the unemployment line, and I'll get frugal pretty darn fast.

Also, my generation had to fight the Greatest Generation to end racial segregation, further the women's rights movement, and enact countless other progressive, human-rights endeavors. So pardon me if I overindulge on Twinkies.

'We pamper ourselves today (admittedly to bad effect) because these are comparatively prosperous, safe times.'

wow! you mean you don't buy the story that everyone is starving, poor, and miserable as the liberals would have you believe?

irvingchang:

'We pamper ourselves today (admittedly to bad effect) because these are comparatively prosperous, safe times.'

wow! you mean you don't buy the story that everyone is starving, poor, and miserable as the liberals would have you believe?

I'm starving and miserable. Keriamon and her husband ate all my food and left none for me. :(

keriamon , nobody is saying that being fat makes you lazy. But being lazy will make you fat and poor. Eating at restaurants and eating processed food is more fattening, more expensive and less work than making food from scratch.